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Tom Glavine workout day interview

Tom Glavine workout day interview

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Can you talk about, the question is,
how do you pitch to Albert Pujols or do you
pitch to Albert Pujols?

TOM GLAVINE: Yes, and carefully.
Yeah, so much of it depends on the
situation in the game obviously. I mean, Albert is a
great hitter. The guy that obviously we're going to
identify in their lineup as trying not to allow him to
beat us.

You know, what's the saying, the best laid
plans go awry sometimes. The game is a game
and things happen and you can't always execute
your plan as perfectly as you'd like to. So you
know, in a perfect world, Albert comes up with two
outs and nobody on, or leading off an inning. But
there's a pretty good chance before this is all over
we're going to have to face him with runners on
base, and if we do, if you're pitching around him,
obviously you have to be careful and if you have to
try to get him out. He's really no different than
anybody else; you have to be aggressive. If you
try to be too timid, you're going to make a mistake
and he's going to make you pay for it.

I imagine it took a little longer to get
here than you thought it would when you came
over here, but does it feel even more special
now that you are here, and I don't want to use
the word vindication, but does it make the
decision feel a lot better now?

TOM GLAVINE: You know, in terms of
how it feels, I mean, it's great. It's awesome.
There's nothing better than being here this time of
year regardless of where you are.
You know all of the years I played in the
post-season in Atlanta were too awesome, too,
and I enjoyed them, too. This obviously is a
different atmosphere and a different place and
because of that, it's a little bit different. I can't sit
here and say that any one was any better than the
other. They are all great and fun for their own
reasons. I'm sure enjoying the opportunity to
experience this here in New York. That's obviously
why I came here, or at least what I wanted to have
accomplish when I came here.

So I'm enjoying it. As far as vindication,
no, I don't feel like there's vindication. I mean, I
came here out of a series of circumstances and
obviously, leaving Atlanta, coming here, I thought
that this is a team that would have an opportunity
to win during my time here. And you know, here
we are, a little bit longer than, like I've said before,
probably me or anybody else associated with this
organization would like to wait, but so far it's been
worth, it's been fun.

Just talk about the opportunity to
pitch in a big game.

TOM GLAVINE: It's fun. But, you know, I
guess you just try not to make too much of it. I
understand that it's a big game and certainly a lot
of interest in this game locally, nationally, all that
stuff.

But in the end, I think from my standpoint
or from all of the other players' standpoint, to a
degree, you try your hardest to treat it like any
other game. Because I think that we get into
trouble as players when we make the game
become bigger in our minds than it is or bigger
than it should be, and in the end, it all boils down
to try to go out there and just relax and do what
we've done all year long. And the best way to do
that is not try and think so much about what the
game means or how big the game means; it's a
game, obviously, that we want to win and I'm going
to do my best to go out there and give us a chance
to win it.

Can you talk about Rick Peterson
and the effect he's had on you as a pitcher and
maybe the younger guys, too.

TOM GLAVINE: I am a big fan of Rick
Peterson's. He's helped me a lot. I've changed a
lot as a pitcher over the course of time that he's
been here, and all of the changes that he's talked
to me about making and encouraged me to make
have worked out well for me.

So, you know, I'm extremely thankful and
appreciative for all of the help that he's given me
personally. You know, as far as the young guys
and the staff go, what's great about him is takes
the time to try to help everybody get better. He
obviously has a vested interest in us doing well,
but he has a genuine interest in guys that come
over here and helping them get better and he
takes a lot of pride and satisfaction out of watching
guys that come here doing some of the things that
he's trying to get them to do and see them get
better. For me personally, he's been a huge help
for me at this point in my career and really got me
back on track to being a good pitcher again and
having hopefully a realistic chance of trying to win
300 games.

Other than maybe wanting the
challenge of going after Pujols and trying to get
him out, is there a real reason to actually pitch
to him? In other words, even if there is a guy
on base, if you operate under the reality that,
hey, this guy is so far and away the best hitter
in the lineup and the guy is most likely to hit a
home run anyway, in a sense does it make
sense to just walk him every time, like unless
the bases are loaded?

TOM GLAVINE: Again, I think so much of
it just depends on the situation. You know, if I've
got a four-run lead and he's up with a guy on first
base or whatever, I'm going to be hard-pressed to
stand on that mound and put aside my competitive
side and say, I'm just going to walk this guy.

You know, there's a competitive side that
we have as pitchers, as well, that want to try to get
him out. You know, I think you have to factor in
obviously the situations in the game. You have to
factor in what you have out there on the mound on
a given night, and you have to factor in maybe the
previous at-bats during the course of the game that
you've had with him and how he's looked or how
he may or may not be swinging the bat. All of
those things come into play.

But I can assure you we're not going to
stand on the mound and just stupidly say, the
better side of me wants to get him out and I have
something to prove or something like that. That's
not going to happen. Sooner or later, we're going
to have to pitch to him before the series is over.
He's not going to walk every time he comes up
there, I can assure you of that.

When someone walked, I think Brett
was walked with the bases loaded a number of
years ago, what was your reaction when you
heard that? Could you believe that a player
was walked with the bases loaded?

TOM GLAVINE: No, probably not. You
know, I guess over the years now, you've seen a
little bit more of crazy stuff like that, whether it's a
guy walked with the bases loaded or guys -- you
saw Ryan Howard I think late this year getting
walked leading off an inning in extra innings. So I
think you see more and more of that.

I don't know if that's good or bad or right or
wrong; I don't know. You know, it seems to be
more of the going by the book so to speak,
because you don't want to let somebody beat you,
even though it may not be going by the book to
walk a guy in those situations, but at least you can
explain away that you didn't let that guy beat you. I
guess that has to factor into the equation
somewhere.

But you've seen a little bit more of that with
some of the guys in the game today. There's
some pretty remarkable hitters in the game today,
and obviously, you try and assess each situation
for what it is. But, you know, like I said, you can
lay all the groundwork you want, but sooner or
later, you have to pitch to these guys.

With El Duque and Pedro down, do
you assume a little bit more responsibility,
having pitched so many post-season games
that you might have to do a little bit more
without those guys on the roster?

TOM GLAVINE: You know, maybe I
guess from my standpoint, I go in thinking that I
obviously -- it's important for me to get as deep into
the game as I can to try and give our bullpen a little
bit of a break. We're going to lean on our bullpen
heavily. Our bullpen is fantastic and they have
been fantastic all year long, and certainly in those
short series where you have so many days off, you
can really utilize those guys.

But there are certain times during the
course of the year where you know your bullpen is
taxed and you go out as a starting pitcher and you
know that sometimes the most important thing is
maybe not winning the game, but giving those
guys out there a break. And to a degree, sure, I
feel a sense of responsibility to try and get the
game as deep as I can and minimize the amount of
outs that those guys have to get.

But on top of that, you know, I don't feel
like there's any added pressure on me. Like I said
in the first round, you know, losing Pedro and
losing El Duque certainly hurts us. It's not the ideal
situation going in. But that's the responsibility of all
25 guys on our team to try and make up and pick
up the slack, not just a starting pitcher here or
there or a hitter; it has to be everybody.

Q. Is there any carry-over from start to
start in the postseason for pitchers?

TOM GLAVINE: If you pitch well, yes, and
if you don't, I'll tell you no. You try and dismiss
when you have bad ones. I've been on every side
of the coin as far as that goes. Certainly you feel
better about your next start if you've pitched well
previously.

But that doesn't mean that if you've had a
poor start that you can't bounce back. I mean, I
had one of my worst starts in the postseason in
Game 6 in '92 and ended up pitching a great game
in Game 1 of the World Series that year.

Certainly, you try and have a short memory when
it's convenient for you, but believe me, you'd much
rather be coming off a good outing going into your
next one. You'd feel a lot better about it.

This late in the season, does
anything in your routine preparing for a game
change?

TOM GLAVINE: Maybe a little bit in
between starts, depending on what you're going to
do in terms of rest. And I haven't thought this far
ahead obviously, but there's a possibility you're
coming back a day early and obviously it alters
your workout in between starts or it alters for me
how many times I'll throw in between starts, that
kind of stuff.

But you know, as far as everything else
goes, no, it's pretty -- everything's pretty much the
same in terms of once I do work out and decide
what I'm going to do or once I do get on the mound
and decide I'm going to throw, all of that is pretty
much the same.

This is probably old news but I
haven't seen you in a while and I notice the
wrap on your left index finger, is that anything
new?

TOM GLAVINE: No, actually I burned my
finger a little bit before my last start and it's just
starting to heal a little bit. So just trying to keep it
from splitting or bleeding or cracking or any of that
stuff on me.

And how did you do that?

TOM GLAVINE: Cooking dinner. You
know, I'm a bachelor right now. My wife's at home.
(Laughter.)
Q. What was the dinner?
TOM GLAVINE: It was something out of
the microwave. It wasn't that good. (Laughter.)
What are you going to do? Things happen, you
know.

They have cooks, you know.

TOM GLAVINE: I know. I'm not going
there. I learned it from Smoltzie, some of the stuff
he does.

With what has happened and the
success you've had this year and the way this
is ending, the situation with other pitchers,
does any of that play in the likelihood to your
desire to come back next year?

TOM GLAVINE: It really hasn't. I've been
so focused on what we're doing now and trying to
enjoy this and trying to get through this and trying
to win a World Series here that I really haven't
even begun to think about what's going to happen
when the season's over and where the Mets may
or a not be in terms of me returning and all of the
conversations that go along with that.

Certainly with Pedro being hurt, and hurt
for a long time into next year, you know, El Duque,
who knows what his status is going to be going
forward. I mean, there's certainly some questions
that would lead you to believe that they would want
me back here with open arms, but who knows,
there's still a lot of money. I'll sit down and have
that conversation with Jeff at the appropriate time.
But hopefully it won't be for a couple of weeks.

PAUL LO DUCA: Is Paul Lo Duca the best
catcher you've ever had?

TOM GLAVINE: I tell you what, you're the
best catcher I've had on my team this year.
(Laughter.)

Courtesy of FastScripts by ASAP Sports. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.